The 5 most difficult things about hiring developers

A limited talent pool makes hiring developers a challenge for many companies, according to a Digital Ocean report.

Video: How to hire and retain great developer talentFrom startups and SMBs to the enterprise, the tech skills gap impacts every company. TechRepublic contributor Matt Asay explains how to locate, recruit, and retain the top-tier technology talent.

The tech talent war rages on, as hiring managers continue to face difficulties finding and retaining in-demand developers, according to a Friday report from Digital Ocean.

Lack of a formal software engineering education tops the list of developer hiring challenges for managers by far, the report found. Some are turning to coding bootcamp graduates to fill open positions: 23% of hiring managers said their company had filled a few jobs with these candidates, while 7% said they had filled many jobs with bootcamp grads.

While some bootcamp graduates are getting hired, some hiring managers differentiate between those with a traditional four-year degree in computer science or engineering and those without one, the report found. Some 55% of hiring managers said they look at all candidates equally, while 23% said it depends on the position they are interviewing for. Meanwhile, 14% said they prefer to hire graduates of college programs, and 8% said they prefer to hire coding bootcamp grads.

Hiring managers ranked the following top hiring challenges in terms of difficulty:

Lack of formal software engineering education (39%)

Limited pool of candidates with relevant job/technical skills (18%)

Lack of soft skills/workplace competencies (15%)

Losing top candidates to competing offers (15%)

Salary demands too high (13%)

When evaluating a job, developers prioritize opportunities for internal growth and development (39%), competitive salaries (39%), a culture that fits their personality (38%), the ability to work remotely (27%), and freedom to use certain technologies (23%).

Hiring managers should take note of these needs, to better tailor job descriptions to in-demand developers.

The big takeaways for tech leaders:

39% of hiring managers said a lack of formal software engineering education is the top challenge to hiring developers. — Digital Ocean, 2018